Non-Witness Narrative by (name not provided) on 2013-06-17 (okay to publish): Baltimore Canoe Club Web site: Please be aware that the Lower Gunpowder put in is CLOSED this Fathers Day Sunday morning due to body recovery operations at the strainer on the upstream side of route 1. One of my crews is assisting state officials in tearing apart the strainer for access to the missing person. It is unknown how long it will be closed. Marty The level was around 6″. The 2nd tube was completely obstructed. 1, 3 & 4 were all clear. The 2nd tube is, in fact, too deep to wade from below without support at above base.If anything it is a reminder that (to many of us) anything can go wrong in any water. I’m very familiar with this location. Above Belair Road/Route 1, the river is class I+ and is a popular novice run. Below, the river starts to pick up gradient as it falls off the Piedmont Plateau to the coastal plain, and in next four miles there are half a dozen significant rapids, including the river’s namesake, “Gunpowder Falls”. This section is II+ at nominal water levels, more III-ish at high water, and at very high water a few difficult spots develop. The wording in one of the updates on the GBCC site mentions a strainer on the upstream side of the Route 1 bridge. This is a notorious spot for them: underneath the bridge are four “tubes”. Here’s a partial view at *very* high water, on the upstream side: http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/63256/photos/PHOTO_17942367_63256_22854753_ap.jpg Note the railing and walkway above them: a hiking trail crosses the river there. I have to guess that rescuers are taking advantage of that. The tubes are perhaps 15 feet in diameter and it’s quite common for two or three of the four to be blocked by strainers. The current accelerates above them and ferrying across the openings, looking for one that isn’t blocked, requires more than a novice’s level of boat control. Complicating things, sometimes a strainer isn’t visible at the opening, but is lodged halfway through the tube — in the shadows. Rick Kuwalik TEXT ATTACHMENTS Kayaker missing in Baltimore County Fire officials suspend search for man late Saturday By Erica L. Green, The Baltimore Sun 9:20 p.m. EDT, June 15, 2013 Baltimore County fire officials have temporarily suspended a search that failed to turn up a 26-year-old man reported missing Saturday afternoon after falling from his kayak in Gunpowder Falls. The 26-year-old man was reported missing around 4:30 p.m. by a friend who was kayaking with him in the river near Belair Road, in Kingsville, according to Lt. Jay Ringgold, a spokesman for the Baltimore County Fire Department. Several crews were still on the scene at 8 p.m., but had not been able to locate the man, he said. it was undetermined when the search would resume. erica.green@baltsun.com Body of Parkville kayaker recovered from Gunpower Falls By Pamela Wood, The Baltimore Sun 3:55 p.m. EDT, June 16, 2013 Emergency responders on Sunday recovered the body of a 26-year-old kayaker who had been reported missing a day earlier. The body of Daniel Travis Deamond of Parkville was pulled from the Gunpowder Falls near Belair Road in Kingsville at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, said Sgt. Brian Albert, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Police. Deamond and a friend had been kayaking Saturday when Deamond ran into trouble at the bridge, Albert said. The river flows through four archways under the road. Deamond’s kayak rolled under a pile of brush and debris that had collected in one archway from the recent storms, Albert said. The State Highway Administration brought in a crane on Sunday to remove debris so crews could reach his body. A member of the Kingsville Volunteer Fire Department’s swift-water rescue team pulled Deamond’s body from the water. Teams from Baltimore County’s police and fire departments and the state Natural Resources Police also assisted in the recovery. Deamond’s body has been taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy, but foul play is not suspected. Deamond was not wearing a life jacket, Albert said. pwood@baltsun.com Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-kayaker-body-found-20130616,0,6621509.story#ixzz2WTHPI5ob Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-missing-kayaker-20130615,0,1450936.story#ixzz2WTFkSKmd